Workflow Builder + AddIns

[hogi]

☐ cool new feature
☑ could help many users!

☑ removes a „bug“

☐ nice to have

☐ nobody needs it

Workflow Builder just records part of the steps which a user performs in Jmp.

Especially commands from Add-ins are not recorded.

My wish: Enable Workflow Builder to record as many actions as possible.

Options:

• Provide an easy way for Add-In Programmers to make the add-ins "suitable" to be recorded via Workflow Builder.
• add a functionality to workflow builder to record the actions of existing add-ins (without adjustment within the Add-In)
• add the steps as Main Menu("Add-Ins: command") - i.e. not fully automatic, but with some user interaction
• add a dummy step to the workflow idicating that Workflow Builder was not able to grab an action
  (then the user can decide if this action was important and just in case try to re-do it using an official function)

https://community.jmp.com/t5/Discussions/Workflow-Builder-Add-Ins/m-p/573991/highlight/true#M78301

more wishes submitted by  

[Sarah-Sylvestre]

Hi @hogi, thank you for your suggestion! We have captured your request and will take it under consideration.

[Sarah-Sylvestre]

Hello @hogi! We have discussed with development.  We have a lot of other Workflow Builder requests we are working on that take priority in the 18 cycle. We are keeping it in mind for a future version of JMP, especially if other add-in authors add their thoughts to this.

[hogi]

yes, I guess the feedback for Workflow Builder is overwhelming. 

But think of a Workflow which just contains 8 out the 10 executed steps ...

Could a workflow with 2 

MainMenu("Add-Ins: command");

 steps help?

[hogi]

Besides Add-Ins, some more actions which are not recorded:
Actions missed by Advanced Log/Workflow Builder 

[hogi]

On the other hand, it helps a lot that more actions are recorded in Jmp 17 than in Jmp 16.2:
- new data view

-  ...

[hogi]

Along the idea of @shampton82 , I have several toolbars with shortcuts to make functions easier accessible which are otherwise hidden deep in the Cols and Rows menus.

To share the Shortcuts with my colleagues, I generated some Add-Ins which can be installed very conveniently.

So far so good. 

Now let's come to the problem:
Up to now, I use a JSL function to call the Command via Main Menu or to send a message to the data table.

But unfortunately, this way, the command will not show up in the Advanced log, nor is it recorded by the Workflow Builder.

Is there a way to directly reference the Built-In command in the Add-In?
(green arrow, instead of red arrow)

In the Add-In Builder there is no option to do so:

Neither is there an option in the Add-In Manager:

[hogi]

@Jeff_Perkinson 

This is the topic we discussed on Discovery Summit 2023 Europe.

How to make an addin Shortcut trigger directly a Jmp command (green Arrow) such that the action gets recorded by the Workflow Builder: 

[Jeff_Perkinson]

The easiest way to do this is to create and install your add-in as you are currently doing.

Then, go to View->Customize->Menus and Toolbars...

Then choose your add-in and set the starting set to JMP Add-in customizations.

Then you can add your new buttons using the built-in commands.

 

After you've added your buttons, click Save (at the top) and OK (at the bottom) to close the dialog.

Your installed add-in now has your new toolbar items.

To package it back up to give to someone else you need to go to the installed add-in home folder and zip the folder up and rename it.

Go to the View->Add Ins... menu and select your add-in and click the blue link to open the Home Folder.

  

Then go up one folder to the Addins folder and right click on the folder for your add-in and choose Compress to Zip file.

After the file is compressed change the extension from .zip to .jmpaddin and you're all set.

[Jeff_Perkinson]

• add a functionality to workflow builder to record the actions of existing add-ins (without adjustment within the Add-In)

This will be impossible since an add-in could do an infinite number of things. For a simple case, consider my Interactive Binning add-in. Exactly how could JMP know what to record since so much of what I do is within structures that I created. 

Instead your suggestion:

• Provide an easy way for Add-In Programmers to make the add-ins "suitable" to be recorded via Workflow Builder.

would give an add-in author the incentive to build their code in a way that can be called by others.